Legend has it that garlic keeps vampires, ghosts and the evil eye away. A pillar of the Mediterranean diet, it is above all the universal food-medicine! “Intestinal and respiratory antiseptic, it stimulates the heart, facilitates circulation, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, lists Maxime Mességué, dietitian nutritionist. Anti-water retention, garlic also fights against cancers, especially digestive. And it helps control blood sugar (blood sugar levels).
It contains vitamins B6 and C, amino acids, sulfur compounds like allicin (they smell strong but are archi-protective), polyphenols, minerals (phosphorus, iron, selenium). And even inulin, a prebiotic fiber; and phenolic acids, antiseptics. “
3 pods per day
For a health effect, there are three cloves of raw garlic per day, provided that the entourage supports our breath, divided between lunch and dinner. Sensitive stomachs, 1 clove per day is sufficient. And we prefer it raw.
“Cooked, it does not have the same benefits: it is necessary to swallow three times more to obtain an equivalent effect”, estimates the dietitian. To calm its spiciness, you can soak the pods for 1 hour in cool water. Baked, in a shirt, roasted or candied, it is tender, easy to digest and slightly sweet. Even sweeter? It is marinated for 24 to 48 hours in olive oil. Finally, we forget the dehydrated form, unflattering to the taste.
Organic garlic is better
Commercial garlic generally undergoes an ionizing treatment, which ensures a longer shelf life. “This process destroys vitamins and creates new potentially carcinogenic molecules, such as cyclobutanones”, explains Maxime Mességué. Problem : the labeling is fuzzy, and the garlic you buy may be irradiated. Unless we choose it organic, or take it from our favorite market gardener who grows all his vegetables himself.
In what forms is it found?
- White garlic: the pods are white, swollen and shiny. It is made into aioli, rubbed bread, marinades, and flavored with potatoes, pasta, meat (insert cloves cut in 2 into the flesh of a roast with a knife …). Store in a cool (15 ° C), dark and dry place.
- Lautrec’s pink garlic: it is the most digestible, the finest, the most labeled: Label rouge and IGP (Protected Geographical Indication). It is slipped “in a shirt” (cooked with its first skin, the “tunic”), alongside fish or baked meats. We rub salad bowls and gratin dishes with a clove cut in 2.
- New garlic (fresh): same virtues and flavors as white garlic, but less strong. Full of water, it can only be kept for a few days, peeled, in an airtight box, in the refrigerator. We slice the stalk like chives in salads.
- Wild garlic (wild garlic): wild cousin, more fragrant but sweeter. We use its fresh leaves in salads, chopped with butter, cream cheese, in a vinaigrette, mustard … They resemble those of lily of the valley, very toxic. To check that they smell like garlic, you first crumple the leaves between your fingers.
- Black is black: Aomori’s heads of black garlic (Japanese grocery stores, Internet …) sell for almost € 10 each. Fans claim they’ve never had a better dessert. The idea: let the garlic ferment in a steamer for several dozen days. In the end, a black and sweet flesh. You can make it yourself by putting garlic heads for 15 days in a rice cooker, then drying them for 15 days.
Read also :
- Wild garlic: its health benefits
- Garlic: an aphrodisiac food?
- The surprising beauty secrets of garlic
